Tassimo hot drinks machines have intelligent barcode technology which means the barcode on Tassimo T DISCs is scanned by the machine and registers the correct brewing time, temperature and amount of water required for each beverage.
It's all completely automatic, all you have to do is pop in a disc, press the button and your drink is prepared and dispensed into your cup.
Having been asked to review the Tassimo Vivy drinks machine here's how I got on. The instructions that are supplied with the machine are a series of pictures that are really easy to follow.
The Tassimo Vivy TAS1202GB is compact and quite small with dimensions of just 249 x 169 x 298 mm (H x W x D) so doesn't take up valuable workspace in the kitchen - well space is valuable to me since my kitchen is really tiny!
The coffee machine holds up to 0.7 litres of water which is enough to make approximately three standard cups of coffee.
Operation is really easy - as you can see from my pictures above you can remove the drip tray if your chosen cup or glass happens to be too tall.
Put the cup underneath, lift the top and insert your chosen T DISC (upside down) don't worry it will only go in one way so you can't go wrong.
Pull the top back down and it will pierce the disc. The barcode will then be read so the machine knows which drink you have chosen and therefore it knows how much water to add and how long it needs to brew.
Once the light next to the picture of the cup illuminates, press the button and your drink will be made for you.
In this case, I was making an Oreo drink so once the chocolate part had dispensed and the light goes out you just lift the lid and insert the cream part of the drink.
Pull the lid back down and press the button again to add the cream to your drink.
Of course, some beverages such as tea don't have cream so therefore the above operation is just done once.
There is a huge selection of T DISCs available online and in supermarkets (apparently there are over 35 varieties including a range of Costa coffees including Cappuccino and others such as Kenco Medium Roast Coffee and Caffe Crema, Twinings Breakfast Tea and Chai Latte, Oreo, Cadbury Hot Chocolate and more) so I think that's plenty to choose from and something for everyone!
Oreo T DISCs
The kitchen smelt amazing as the drink was being made but although the Oreo drink was very chocolaty in smell, sadly we both thought it was quite thin and had a slightly watered down taste and was not half as nice as the Cadbury's hot chocolate drink which is good.
Coffee and Tea
Paul (the husband) is a coffee lover and really likes the Costa Cappuccino - it's really creamy and has a good consistency and he can't fault it.
Obviously, you can't expect a hot drinks machine to recreate the proper coffee served in Costa which of course is made by coffee machines costing a fortune. That said, Paul says the Tassimo does a pretty good job.
Although I'm a tea lover I've never been a fan of any kind of breakfast tea and so it would be unfair of me to comment on the Twinings Breakfast tea that was sent to us along with the machine.
Cost
The T DISC sell for around £4.25 so for example with Costa Cappuccino discs you will get 8 in a pack so each drink works out at around 53p per cup.
I suppose it depends on how many drinks you of your family are lightly to drink in a day as to whether or not that could be expensive.
Cleaning the Tassimo Vivy Hot Drinks Machine
Maintenance of the Tassimo Vivy is effortless as the machine indicates when there is a need for cleaning or descaling, and this can be done simply with the onboard cleaning disc.
Cleaning takes around 30 minutes to complete but of course, you can just leave the machine to it and get on with something else as it doesn't require you to do anything once the operation has started.
I should point out that the spout part comes out completely so you can clean and rinse once a day and the barcode reader window just needs a wipe.
All in All
The Tassimo Vivy is a great little hot drinks machine - fantastic for home or in the office. Drinks are quick and made without any mess, it's easy to clean and convenient and is small enough to fit in any kitchen.
Disclosure: I was sent the Tassimo Vivy and a selection of T DISCs for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and are in no way meant to influence readers' buying choices.
They seem quite similar to the Dolce Gusto although the problem with all these machines is George Clooney never comes with them!
ReplyDelete@Sarah - LOL!!! Sadly not x
ReplyDeleteLooks like a very neat and tidy machine Jan! I've got a Lavazza Moda Mio machine which has been going strong for a few years now, and i'm completely hooked on the coffee. It's great being able to make a decent latte in the comfort of your own kitchen - especially when you work from him :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a cute little machine. We've had various, though never a pod machine, but Pete's gone back to basics with an aeropress, which means no space taken up on the worksurface too!
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE one of these :) It would save me many pennies having decent coffee at home rather than traipsing to a cafe especially with a newborn in tow.
ReplyDelete